Mirror
by Bombshell Wannabe
Summary: Steph finally gets it,that maybe shes living wrong. No babe hea unless you can convince me. *warning will be mildly sad and morelli definitely wont get the girl


_These characters _belong_ to Janet and Janet only, ill give them back in one piece... eventually ^-^_

_Any who...on with the story!_

The explosion was mild compared to my usual ones but I would still need a new POS car. I was dreading the bets that would undoubtedly be brought up and the lecture that Joe would surely give me.

In case you haven't already guessed, I'm Stephanie Plum the infamous Bombshell bounty hunter. I come complete with a strict burg upbringing, Italian/Hungarian genes, a tendency to blow things up, and a hamster named Rex.

Sometime in my musings the fire department arrived to attempt to clean up my latest mess. 'To bad they cant clean up my mess of a relationship,' I thought to myself as Morelli came into view.

Joseph Anthony Morelli was my on and off boyfriend and one of Trenton finest. He insists that I'm giving him an ulcer and that it would be in my best interests to stop this madness/my life and start a family with him. I am not convinced. I'm pretty sure that I love him, but I know for sure that hes not the ONE, and that I wont compromise who I am for him.

When I say he is not the one, I am not saying I couldn't picture spending my life with him, its just that hes not the only one. Ricardo Carlos Manoso AKA Ranger AKA Batman makes everything more complicated. He is my mentor, my friend, and for one glorious night, my lover(shh Don't tell Joe). I figured out my love for just recently, but hes already told me his love comes with a condom and not a ring. I Don't think he realizes that I'm not the kind of person that wants a ring. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him strut towards me like always, the hint of a smile on his face at my newest disaster. Such a wonderful sense of humor.

"Babe," Ah the master of one word answers strikes again! Its a good thing I knew what how to read between the batman lines.

In this context, babe meant something along the lines of, "Stephanie, I was so worried, are you alright, I love you soooo much," OK so maybe I'm adding in some stuff but you get the picture. "I'm fine just a little pissed off is all," I grumbled, thinking of all the other cars that went to car heaven under my watch. I guess we could all agree that my watch sucks. Damn car karma!

"Car karma babe? You got some bad juju going on that I should know about?" Oh so now hes Mr. funny bone huh there's that great sense of humor again, Don't you just love it?

"Harde har har," a lame come back but it will have to do under the circumstances.

The corner of his lip turned but in a very Ranger barely there smile, he tucked a loose curl behind my ear, kissed my forehead and was gone. Well they Don't call him the wizard for nothing. I was so lost in my sexy Cuban world that I hadn't noticed the angry Italian walking towards me. He must have seen Rangers affectionate gestures because he was abnormally mad. Maybe If I pretend to be injured he would let me be, I really didn't feel like being yelled at today, but it didn't look as if our on again stage was going to make it through the night.

"Cupcake, what did you do now?" his question shook me off my guard, "Do you always have to do these things, look around you, NORMAL women Don't blow shit up, they Don't get stalked or shot at or roll in fucking garbage on a regular business!" His words angered me but more so, I was hurt, hurt and confused. Why was someone who claimed to love me being so cruel, but he wasn't done.

"I try to understand you, but I cant," all the anger had left him, all the fight, "he understands you doesn't he? All your need for life. Your always going to choose your job over me, or what can be, aren't you? And I'm never going to understand that, never going to except that." I couldn't say goodbye, not like this. I had so much to say and so little words. He was begging me to correct him, to tell him that I would choose him choose the life he wanted to give me, but I needed to think.

"We need to talk Joe, but not here not now, not..." my voice trailed off at the end, and I turned and walked away. The problem at hand now was my significant lack of transportation. It would feel wrong to call Ranger after the conversation id just had, thankfully though, I am friends with half of the Trenton PD so my friend Eddie Garzara wander over to offer his services. The ride home was uneventful , I was in no mood to talk and Eddie must have sensed that cause he didn't push me on what was up.

Safe in the comfort of my apartment I let the events of the day wash over me. I had spent the morning attempting to pull in Micky bog AKA Flash,stupid name but smart guy. Well smart for a criminal. He had gotten out his back door before I even had a chance to knock. After that disappointment I thought a doughnut run was in order, ya know, to raise moral and all. By the time

I got back out to look for him I had acquired a new pair of sexy FMP and a dress that was to die for(hey when raising moral you have to go all the way!).

I guess I shouldn't have given him so much time to get ready because when I got there he had all the makings for a rocket pointed right at my car. So I had just enough time to run out of the car and duck before crazy over there torched it and landed me in this mess. Luckily I had just bought a few pints of Ben and Jerry's phish food, I could multitask Morelli and the bombing all in one or 3 pints of ice cream.

Somehow I couldn't make the tears come, not for my wreck of a life or the impending doom of a relationship I've had for years.

The silence that usually so soothing now felt oppressive and cold, I had a sudden realization. If Morelli left, I would be alone. I didn't want to be alone.

That's when the tears came.


End file.
